Fishing in general is a leisure activity of increasing popularity and participation worldwide. In particular, ice fishing is a sport being enjoyed more and more often for the calmness, serenity, and satisfaction associated with the activity. Ice fishing presents many problems and facets unique from other common forms of fishing, such as the skill of choosing locations and forming holes in the ice.
Obviously, the process of forming a hole in the ice is integral to the process of ice fishing. Longstanding methods of forming holes in the ice, such as the use of hand augers, require nontrivial amounts of time and effort. The process of forming holes can quickly become tedious when repeated several times over during the process of preparing for ice fishing in multiple locations or when changing locations for purposes of perceived increased productivity in fishing. Other methods, such as gas-powered ice drills, are tedious in the time spent preparing and transporting the device, as well as cost-prohibitive for repeated use.
Various attempts have been made to provide tools for drilling holes in hard surfaces. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,854,218, issued in the name of Hedrick et al., describes an ice shaving drill bit. The Hedrick device utilizes the rotary motion of a power drill to shave a hole in the ice in a smooth fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,605, issued in the name of Ruppel et al., describes an extendible shank auger. The Ruppel device is a hand-driven auger which allows a user to drill a hole in a surface such as ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,774, issued in the name of Haughton, describes a spade drill bit. The Haughton device resembles a common spade-type drill bit adapted for use with a power drill which allows a user to form a round hole of a desired width.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such devices are not suitably adapted to provide gripping and scraping functions which are advantageous for drilling through ice. Also, many such devices are not adapted for simple use with existing technologies such as power drills. Furthermore, many such devices do not employ a method which provides a user with easy initial puncturing and subsequent quick boring through an ice surface. In addition, many such devices do not provide an integral means to help protect a user from spray ice debris during the process of ice drilling. Accordingly, there exists a need for device suitably adapted for drilling holes through ice for purposes of ice fishing without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.